New York State Teacher Certification Test
Multi-subject Test (Grade-1 - Grade-6):
NYSTCE Exam Review for the New York State Teacher Certification Examinations
Literacy and English Language Arts
Competency:
1. Knowledge of literacy & Language Arts- 17 - 30%
2. Instruction in Foundational Literacy Skills - 17 - 30%
3. Instruction in English Language Arts - 6 - 10%
4. Analysis, Synthesis, and Application - 30%
Total 40- 100%
Sample Q/A:
Q.1. Which novel is credited as the origin of the bildungsroman, or the "education novel" genre?
Ans: Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre
Bildungsroman is German for "education novel." This term is also used in English to describe so -called "apprenticeship" novels focusing on coming -of-age stories, including youth's struggles and searches for things such as identity, spiritual understanding, or the meaning in life. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1796) is credited as the origin of this genre. Two of Charles Dickinsons' novels, David Copperfield (1850) and great Expectations (1861), also fit this form H.G. Wells wrote bildungsroman about questing for apprenticeships to address the complication of modern life in Joan and Peter (1918) and from a Utopian perspective in The Dream(1924).
Q.2. Which of the following is considered to be a roman a clef, or a "novel with a key"?
Ans: George Orwell's Animal Farm (1945)
It refers to books that require a real-life frame of reference, or key, for full comprehension.
Q.3. Unrhymed iambic pentameter is also known as which of the following?
Ans: Blank verse
Q.4. Which of the following refers to a mid-verse pause that interrupts flow?
Ans: Caesura
Q.5. A villanelle is a nineteen-line poem that consists of which of the following?
Ans: 5 tercets & 4 tercets
Q6. Which of the following best describes Aristotle's concept of hamartia in works of tragedy?
Ans: A fatal flaw
Q.7. Who theorized that a tragedy must involve some circumstance in which two values, or two rights, are fatally at odds with one another and conflict directly?
Ans: Hegel
Q.8. Which of the following is the first step in evaluating an informational text?
Ans: Identify the argument's conclusion
Q.9. Which of the following is NOT considered a type of appeal for an author to use?
Ans: imagination
Q.10. Which of the following rhetorical devices exaggerates, ridicules, or pokes fun at human flaws or ideas?
Ans: Satire
Q.11. An author arguing that his point is correct because everybody else already agrees with it is an example of which persuasive technique?
Ans: Bandwagon appeal
Q.12 Which of the following is Not one of the first three steps of evaluating an author's argument?
Ans: Evaluate if the author's argument is complete
Q.13. Which of the following affixes refers to the -o- in "speedometer"?
Ans: intermix
Q.14. Adding the suffix -ness to a word typically does which of the following?
Ans: Changes an adjective to a noun
Q.15. Which of the following is not considered a common adjective suffix?
Ans: achy.
Q.16. Which of the following defines the noun suffix -ation?
Ans: Action, state, result
Q.17. Which of the following is the least used form of narration used in literature?
Ans: second-person
Q.18. Which of the following lists the terms of chronological plots in order from first to last?
Ans: Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution
Q.19. Who is credited with first using the metaphor of a city, state, or city-state as a ship?
Ans: Alcaeus
Q.20. How many forms of irony are there?
Ans: 3
21. If a writer alludes to another piece of literature, that writer is doing which of the following?
Ans: Referencing it
22. David Elkind's term "adolescence's is derived from which classical story?
Ans: Daedalus and Icarus
23. Which of the following is not a commonly used and discussed literary theory?
Ans: Precolonial theory
24. Dialect can be used in all of the following situations, Except:
Ans: Professional contexts
25. Which of the following writers is not considered a Dark Romantic?
Ans: Ralph Waldo Emerson
26. langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Paul Robeson were members of which literary movement?
Ans: Harlem Renaissance
27. Which of the following writers is included in the postmodernist movement?
Ans: Kurt Vonnegut
28. Speeches should be delivered in which manner?
Ans: Natural and conversational
29. An ad hominem argument does which of the following?
ans: Attacks the person behind an idea rather than refuting the idea itself
30. An apophasis argument does which of the following?
Ans: Indirectly brings attention to a flaw in an opponent's credibility
31. Which of the following is not considered a type of mood?
Ans: Conjunctive
32. How many different degrees of relative adjectives are there?
Ans: 3
33. In general, adverbs may modify all of the following, Except:
Ans: proper noun
34. Which of the following is an imperative statement?
Ans: go to the post office for me
35. Which of the following is not a word used to combine nouns to make a compound subject?
Ans: also
36. Which of the following is always singular?
Ans: each
37. Identify the indirect object of the following sentence: "We taught the old dog a new trick."
Ans: the old dog
38. Identify the infinitive of the following sentence:"The animals have enough food to eat for the night."
Ans: to eat
39. How many types of sentences are there?
Ans: five
40. Which of the following sentences correctly expresses the idea of parallelism?
Ans: The flurry of blows left him staggered, discombobulated, and overwhelmed before falling
41. Identify the phrase, "The music paused,'in the following sample sentence:
"The music paused, she continued to dance through the crowd."
Ans: Essential appositive
42. Which of the following correctly implements the use of parentheses?
Ans: The rattlesnake is a dangerous snake of North and South America
43. Which of the following correctly describes the placement of punctuation in reference to quotations?
Ans: periods and commas are put inside quotation marks; colons and semicolons go outside.
44. Which of the following correctly implements the use of commas?
Ans: He is meeting me at 456 Delaware Avenue, Washington, D.C. tomorrow morning.
45. Which of the following correctly implements the word"affect" as a noun?
Ans: The patient had a flat affect during her examination.
46. "Affect" and "effect" would be considered which of the following?
Ans: Homophones
47. All of the following are terms in English that signal causes, Except:
Ans: Therefore
48. Which of the following describes logical conclusions that readers make based on their observations and previous knowledge?
Ans: Inferences
49. Which of the following is most important when drawing conclusions from a text?
Ans: The conclusions are supported directly by the text
50. All of the following are true about summaries, Except:
Ans: Summaries should represent the author's main point, usually in proportion to the weight given in the original text.
51. All of the following are used for good comprehension, except:
Ans: text-to others connection
52. Chinese uses which type of writing system?
Ans: Logographic
53. Which of the following is an adjectival suffix?
Ans: -ish
54. Which of the following further defines literacy as the "ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate, compute, and use printed and written materials associated with varying contexts"?
Ans: UNESCO
55. Which theory of language development assumes that language is first learned by imitating the speech of adults?
Ans: learning approach
56. Which of the following is a more structured form of brainstorming?
Ans: Free writing
57. Which of the following is considered the main idea of an essay?
Ans: thesis
58. Which of the following are supporting details to the main idea of a paragraph or a passage?
Ans: examples
59. Which of the following is not a transitional word or phrase in the concession category?
Ans: Broadly speaking
60. Which of the following would not be considered formal writing?
Ans: private letters
61. Which of the following sentences contains a verb in the passive voice?
Ans: I was told that there would be food available at the party
62. The Greek word epistle means:
Ans: letter
63. What are the two major principles used to create an orderly blog?
Ans: Blog layouts need more subheadings, graphics, and other indications of what information follows, and legibility is crucial because onscreen reading is hard on the eyes.
64. Which of the following correctly matches the term with its definition?
Ans: Thesis: A brief proposal of a solution to a problem
65. All of the following are true about paraphrasing, except:
Ans: Paraphrasing does not require a citation for any paraphrased material.
66. While writing a research paper, a student cites a study on the subject from three years prior. What type of source is the student's research paper?
Ans: secondary
67. Which of the following citations follows the Turban format?
Ans: Gaines, Andra. "Ten Things You Won't Believe Dragons Do."studies in Fantasy Fiction 3, no. 8 (2019): 42-65
68. When teaching students who are actively listening, it is important for a teacher to know which of the following?
Ans: the average speed of thinking is much faster than the speed of speaking, so the gap time should be used to summarize lecture information mentally so students don't lose focus.
69. An assessment finds that a student is correctly reading 92 percent of the words in a text. Which level of proficiency is the student performing at?
Ans: instructional
70. CRSBI incorporates caring, communication, and curriculum. What does "CRSBI" stand for?
Ans: Culturally responsive standards-based instruction
Field 221: Multi-Subject: Teachers of Childhood
(Grade 1–Grade 6)
Part One: Literacy and English Language Arts
Sample Selected-Response Questions
Competency 0001
Knowledge of Literacy and Language Arts
1. Which factor is most frequently the underlying cause of children's early difficulty in learning to read?
- weak phonological processing skills
Correct Response: B. This question requires the examinee to demonstrate knowledge of individual variation in literacy development, including knowledge of specific reading difficulties, and knowledge of cognitive, behavioral, environmental, social, cultural, technological, and linguistic factors affecting language and literacy development. Convergent research has shown the most commonly occurring cause of early reading difficulty is weak phonological processing skills. Beginning reading instruction focuses on the development of automatic decoding skills that support the continuing development of reading comprehension, conceptual knowledge, and vocabulary development. When beginning readers have weak phonological processing skills, they have limited knowledge of the component phonemes in spoken words and thus have difficulty connecting letters in printed language to the component sounds and spoken words they represent.
Competency 0001
Knowledge of Literacy and Language Arts
2. Read the passage below from The Phantom Tollbooth, a novel by Norton Juster; then answer the question that follows.
Milo walked slowly down the long hallway and into the little room where the Soundkeeper sat listening intently to an enormous radio set, whose switches, dials, knobs, meters, and speaker covered one whole wall, and which at the moment was playing nothing.
"Isn't that lovely?" she sighed. "It's my favorite program—fifteen minutes of silenceand after that there's a half hour of quiet and then an interlude of lull. Why, did you know that there are almost as many kinds of stillness as there are sounds? But, sadly enough, no one pays any attention to them these days.
"Have you ever heard the wonderful silence just before the dawn?" she inquired. "Or the quiet and calm just as a storm ends? Or perhaps you know the silence when you haven't the answer to a question you've been asked, or the hush of a country road at night, or the expectant pause in a roomful of people when someone is just about to speak, or, most beautiful of all, the moment after the door closes and you're all alone in the whole house? Each one is different, you know, and all very beautiful, if you listen carefully."1
In the passage, a series of questions is used primarily to:
- suggest that the world abounds with unheard experiences.
Correct Response: D. This question requires the examinee to demonstrate knowledge of characteristics, elements, and features of a range of text types in children's literature from a broad range of cultures and periods, including stories (e.g., folktales, legends, fables, fantasy, realistic fiction, myths), drama, poetry, and multimedia versions of texts. In the passage, the Soundkeeper asks Milo a series of questions that describe various ways to experience stillness, such as the "silence just before the dawn," "the quiet and calm just before a storm ends," and "the hush of a country road at night." The Soundkeeper's questions suggest that the world abounds with unheard experiences because people fail to listen attentively to nuances of stillness.
Competency 0002
Instruction in Foundational Literacy Skills
3. As an integral part of planning reading instruction, a fifth-grade teacher provides students with opportunities to interact with objects or illustrations related to important content in planned texts. For example, during an earth science unit, before students read an informational passage about the effects of pollution on the ecosystem of a vernal pool, the teacher arranges a guided class visit to a vernal pool in the area. Which statement best explains a research-based rationale for this practice?
- Background knowledge is an important factor in reading comprehension.
Correct Response: D. This question requires the examinee to demonstrate knowledge of the role of background knowledge in text comprehension and strategies for planning a content-rich, text-rich classroom environment and for promoting independent reading in a wide range of text types and genres to support text comprehension through the development of academic background knowledge. Background knowledge is prior knowledge about a topic that supports reading comprehension and learning new concepts. In the scenario described, the teacher ensures that students have concrete experiences that build background knowledge directly related to the topic of the planned reading assignment. Students will then be able to draw on this prior knowledge when they read the text, supporting and enhancing both their literal and inferential comprehension of the material.
Competency 0002
Instruction in Foundational Literacy Skills
4. A fourth-grade student struggles with literal and inferential comprehension of complex grade-level texts. The teacher has determined that the student meets benchmark oral fluency expectations and has at-grade-level vocabulary and spelling skills. Given this information, which method would be most appropriate for the teacher to use to promote the student's comprehension skills?
- modeling think-aloud and brainstorming strategies to help the student activate prior knowledge
Correct Response: C. This question requires the examinee to apply knowledge of factors affecting students' development of text comprehension (e.g., vocabulary, background content knowledge, decoding skills, reading fluency). Background knowledge is necessary to help students connect what they know to what they are reading—to understand and make inferences about a text, one must have some understanding of what it is about. To promote this student's comprehension, the teacher should help the student learn to activate and build on prior knowledge. This can be accomplished by modeling strategies such as think-aloud and brainstorming for the student. Such prior knowledge activation is linked to the ability to understand texts that might otherwise be slightly above the student's comprehension level.
Competency 0003
Instruction in English Language Arts
5. Students in a sixth-grade class are preparing to read Laurence Yep's novel Dragonwings, in which the narrator leaves his home in China as a young boy to join his father in California. Over the course of the novel, the father and son confront racial prejudice, experience the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and forge a friendship. Before students begin the novel, they write in their reading journals about a time when they felt like strangers in a strange land. The assignment will most likely enhance students' ability to:
- understand the perspective of the novel's narrator.
Correct Response: D. This question requires the examinee to apply knowledge of developmentally appropriate, research- and evidence-based assessment and instructional practices to promote students' development of independent strategies that support reading of literature with purpose and understanding (e.g., making and verifying predictions, visualizing, making connections). Writing about a time when they felt like strangers in a strange land will help students relate their personal experience to that of the narrator of Dragonwings. When students can draw connections between themselves and the narrator, they will be more engaged with a novel whose unfamiliar setting might make it challenging. Attempting to draw connections between their own feelings and experiences with those of fictional characters is an independent strategy that will support students' ability to read literature with greater purpose and deeper understanding.
Competency 0003
Instruction in English Language Arts
6. While reading aloud a story to first-grade students, a teacher pauses periodically to make statements about the content of the story. Students respond to each statement nonverbally by raising one finger to indicate agreement and two fingers to indicate disagreement. Which additional action by the students would best help the teacher assess their active listening skills?
- citing evidence to support responses during the read-aloud
Correct Response: B. This question requires the examinee to apply knowledge of developmentally appropriate assessment and data-driven instructional practices to promote students' skill in using listening strategies that
Literacy & English Language Arts
1. "Decoding" is also called:
Ans: Alphabetic principle
2. Which of the following genres is most important for children just beginning to become readers in grades k, 1, and 2?
Ans: Alphabet books, wordless picture books, and easy-to -read books
3. a third-grade teacher has several students reading above grade level. Most of the remaining students are reading at grade level. There are also a few students reading below grade level. She decides to experiment. He hypothesis is that by giving the entire class a chapter book above grade level, high-level readers will be satisfied, grade-level readers will be challenged in a positive way, and students reading below grade level will be inspired to improve. Her method is most likely to:
Ans: fail, producing students at a Frustration reading level. Those reading below grade level are likely to give up entirely. Those reading at grade level are likely to get frustrated and form habits that will actually slow down their development.
4. A teacher is working with a student who is struggling with reading. The teacher gives him a story with key words missing:
The boy wanted to take the dog for a walk. The boy opened the door. The ________ ran out. The ______looked for the dog. When he found the dog, he was very_________
The student is able to fill in the blanks by considering:
Ans: context. By considering the other ideas in logical order, the student can determine the missing words.
5. Which choice is the best method of structuring language arts curriculum and instruction?
Ans: Use the written curriculum provided by the school district or specific campus as a foundation for instruction. Schedule regular planning sessions to incorporate a variety of texts and instruction methods, as well as to coordinate instruction with teachers of other subjects.
6. Early in the school year, all members of a group of kindergarten students are able to chant the alphabet. The teacher is now teaching the students what the alphabet looks like in written form. The teacher points to a letter, and the students vocalize the corresponding sound. Alternatively, the teacher vocalizes a phoneme and a student points to it on the alphabet chart. The teacher is using_______ in her instruction.
Ans: letter -sound correspondence
7. Which of the following describes one difference between role-play writing and early writing?
Ans: In role-play writing, the child writes in scribbles that are only meaningful to him or her. In early writing, the child uses real letters.
8. A story about a young detective who solves mysteries using mental and physical skills would most likely be classified as which of the following?
Ans: Action and Adventure
9. If a child appears delayed in speech development, which of the following is the best course to follow?
Ans: use in-depth evaluations and early intervention to assist the child with language delays
10. One of the most important elements in children's literature that captures children's interest is
Ans: character
11. how should the teacher best deal with an academically talented student who typically finishes work ahead of other students and tends to get into mischief while waiting for others to finish?
Ans: Assign the student an appealing task related to the subject area that requires creativity, research, and/or in-depth study of the subject, such as creating a play or making a college.
12. Which of the following genres takes an opinion and defends it?
Ans: Essays
13. Which of the following is a developmental skill a child should have before beginning to write?
Ans: Small muscle control
14. What is the term for the final resolution of a fictional plot?
Ans: Denouement
15. Which of the following statements is not accurate regarding why activation of prior knowledge is helpful before, during and after the reading of a text?
Ans: Students can ensure the accuracy of a text by considering what they already know and deciding whether the text fits with their prior knowledge.
16. Activity settings are aspects of the sociocultural context in which students participate in instructional activities. Of five activity settings, one is participant identity, or who the students are. Of the other four, which is most related to motivation?
Ans: Why the activity is done
17. Which of the following types of cues is not included in the three Cueing Systems model?
Ans: Pragmatic
18. Which of the following is relevant to the 2,000 year etymology of the word salary?
Ans: Salt
19. Which of the following involves evaluative reading comprehension?
Ans: Explaining the author's point of view
20. Maria's topic sentence is: "My family throws elaborate holiday celebrations." Which of the following would be the best supporting detail to follow that sentence?
Ans: First, we decide who will host the holiday dinner and when the celebration will take place.
21. In the 16th century, which of the following would have been the closest approximate meaning of the modern word disaster?
Ans: Star-crossed
22. Students should learn to write for a variety of audiences because:
Ans: Students are more involved in their writing if the audience varies
23. Which of the following would you expect children in grades K-2 to learn by being exposed to both fictional and nonfictional literature?
Ans: How to tell fiction from nonfiction
24. A line manager notes that an employee does minimal work but often seems to be using their smartphone during their shift. The line manager notes that they "struggle with productivity." Which of the following is this phrase, as it is used by the line manager, an example of ?
Ans: Euphemism
25. Which of the following relates primarily to how sounds are represented in a text?
Ans: Graphophonic
26. Elena wrote the following paragraph:
I believe that everyone should try to care for our planet. The best ways to do this are through recycling and using natural energy instead of fossil fuels. The supply of fossil fuels such as oil and coal will be used up someday, so we should try now to use less. Solar panels can reduce the use of fossil fuels. Windmills can be used to make electricity. Hybrid cars also use less fuel. If we do not try to be "green," our planet will soon be in trouble from global warning and the absence of fossil fuels. What kind of world would that be?
the purpose of Elena's paragraph was
Ans: Persuasion
27. Which of the following words is an example of a portmanteau?
Ans: Brunch
28. Which of the following is not a method of peer editing?
Ans: Students decide whether another student's essay is good writing or poor writing.
29. What is the best way for a teacher to make sure that books in the classroom are at an appropriate reading level, neither too easy nor so difficult that beginning readers will become trusted?
Ans: Provide a wide variety of reading materials for children to choose from
30. Assonance means that two or more words:
Ans: have the same vowel sound
31. Which of the following choices would be the best comprehensive project for a fourth-grade class at the end of the school year?
Ans: Assign children to a group in which they will read and adapt a short play. Each group will perform its play with costumes and staging while the rest of the class will serve an audience members. Audience members will write short responses to what they have seen, which will be shared with the performers.
32. Which text are likely to foster the greatest enthusiasm for reading and literature among students?
Ans: A variety of texts, including books, magazines, newspapers, stories from oral traditions, poetry, music, and films
33. The English language word quark is an example of which of the following linguistic processes or features?
Ans: Neologisms
34. Which assessment will determine a student's ability to identify initial, medial, blended, final, segmented, and manipulated "units"?
Ans: Phonological awareness assessment
35. Which of the following aspects of poetic form is characteristic of haiku?
Ans: A 5-7-5 syllable pattern
36. In Mr. booker's first grade classroom, students are studying marine animals in science. Mr. Booker wants to select a book to read to the class that will enhance their understanding of this subject while at the same time capturing their interest in story. Which of the following would be the best choice?
Ans: The Wild whale Watch, part of the Magic School Bus series, a chapter book about whales
37. When students compare nonfiction literature to fictional literature, what difference will they find?
Ans: Nonfiction stories contain events, characters, and settings from real life, whereas fictional stories are not based in reality.
38. A child using the prewriting strategy called "free writing" will:
Ans: Write thoughts and ideas without stopping to edit them.
39. In selecting literature for children, the most important first step a teacher should perform is to evaluate
Ans:; Class composition and preferces
40. The basic of writing to a particular audience do not include:
Ans: correct facts
Math Q/A:
1. The variables x and y have a linear relationship. The table below shows a few sample values. Which of the following graphs correctly represents the linear equation relating x and y?
x............y
- 2..... -11
-1 ...... -8
0 ...... -5
1 ...... -2
2 ..... 1
Ans: D. We can use the table to find the linear equation in slope-intercept form, y=mx + b, where m is the slope and b is the y-intercept. The table shows the y-intercept (the y-value at x = 0) to be -5. The slope is the ratio of the change in y-values to the corresponding change in x-values. as the x-value increases by 1, the y-value increases by 3. Thus, the slope is 3/1, or 3. So the equation is y=3x-5.
Only the graphs in choices B and D have a y-intercept at -5. Of these two graphs, only choice D has a y-value increase of 3 for each x-value increase of 1, indicating a slope of 3.
2. Geometric figures can be classified by
Ans: The number of sides
The angles where sides meet
Whether they are polygons or solids
3. A dress is marked down by 20% and placed on a clearance rack, under a sign reading "Take an extra 25% off already reduced merchandise." What fraction of the original price is the final sale of the dress?
Ans: 3/5
4. Mrs. Vories, a fifth-grade teacher, asks her class to use compatible numbers to help her determine approximately how many chicken nuggets she needs to buy for a school-wide party. The school has 589 students and each student will be served nine nuggets. Which student correctly applied the concept of compatible numbers?
Ans: C. The number 589 can be estimated to be 600. The number 9 can be estimated to be 10. The number of chicken nuggets is approximately 600 x 10, which is 6,000 nuggets. Therefore, the correct choice is c.
5. eloisa's monthly car payment is $400. She is trading her car in for a newer model with a monthly payment of $525. What is the percent increase in her monthly payment?
Ans: B. The percent increase is represented as
525-400/400, which equals 0.3125 or 31.25%.
6. For three days, Mr. Hanson had his students keep track of how many times each of them used a pencil during the school day. What is the best kind of graph to use to display these data?
Ans: Bar graphs are the best way to display this type of data because they are used to compare quantities. A pie chart is used to compare parts of a whole. a scatterplot shows comparison of two variables. A line graph shows trends over a period of time.
7. Coach Weybright's 6th -grade basketball team has played 36 games this season. The ratio of wins to losses is 2:1. If x represents the number of wins, which of the following proportions can be used to determine the number of wins?
This problem can be represented using the proportion
number of wins/total games = number of wins/total games.
If the ratio of wins to losses is 2:1, then the ratio of wins to total games is 2:3. The proportion to determine the number of wins is
x/36 = 2/3
8. What is the correct solution for x in the following system of equations?
x - 1 = y
y + 3 = 7
Ans: The equation y + 3 = 7 is solved by subtracting 3 from both sides to yield y = 4. Substituting y =4 into x-1 =y yields x-1 =4. adding 1 to both sides of this equation yields x=5.
9.